Article 4 of the Statistics Law of the People's Republic of China (1996) provides for the establishment of the statistical function of the Ministry of Finance.

According to the Budget Law issued in 1994 and revised in 2014, the Ministry of Finance is responsible for compiling the annual draft budget and draft final accounts for the central government. The Ministry is also responsible for organizing central and local government units to execute their budgets. The reporting of budget performance by the Ministry of Finance to the National People’s Congress (NPC) is authorized by the State Council. Local finance departments are in charge of compiling draft budgets and final accounts at the corresponding level, organizing the implementation of the general public budget for the concerned level of government, and the reporting to the corresponding level of government, the appropriate level of the NPC, as well as to the relevant higher level fiscal department. The Ministry of Finance is authorized by Article 34, Chapter IV of the Budget Law to be responsible for the unified management of the debt of the central government.

The Ministry of Finance is required to make regular summary statistics and disseminate data on the revenue and expenditures of the central government and the local governments. Local government finance departments are required to make regular summary statistics and disseminate data on the revenues and expenditures of the corresponding level and the subordinate governments.

Revenues and expenditures of central and local governments are compiled using national treasury statements and public finance budgetary accounting information. Local government data are the sum of inputs from 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Statistical programs are basically same with those of the central government. The lower level general government units are in charge of summarizing and calculating regional revenues and expenditures, and then reporting to the higher level. The provincial level is responsible for reporting total revenues and expenditures to the Ministry of Finance.

Apart from the direct dissemination of annual data in the China Finance Yearbook and its website http://www.mof.gov.cn (in Chinese), the Ministry of Finance has an arrangement with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the dissemination of monthly and annual data in NBS publications and press releases, and on the NBS website http://www.stats.gov.cn (in Chinese and English).

The Statistics Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that the “statistical agency and statisticians shall keep confidential state secrets, business secrets and personal information acquired in working. The persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible for a breach of business secrets and personal information of respondents or of providing and disclosing information that has been collected during statistical work and could identify or infer a single statistical subject will be given sanctions by the Department in Charge of Appointment and Removal or by the relevant supervisory organ”.

The Budget Law of the PRC issued in 1994 and revised in 2014 regulates that budget, budget adjustment, actual budget and budget performance approved by the People's Congresses at the corresponding levels or by the Standing Committee of the People's Congresses at the corresponding levels shall be disseminated to the public by the governmental fiscal departments at the corresponding levels within 20 days, accompanied by explanations regarding transfer payment arrangements and debts of the local government at the same level.

The Ministry of Finance is equipped with professional staff and facilities for statistical data collection and the compilation of budget and final accounts data. Associated expenses are included in budget plan of the department.

The Ministry of Finance sends staff to international organizations to learn and exchange associated international standards and compilation methods, such as the IMF’s Government Finance Statistics Manual (GFSM). Daily communication with data producing agencies, such as local government units, the People's Bank of China, the State Administration of Taxation (SAT), the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and the NBS ensures the efficient transmission of source data.

The Budget Law stipulates that compilation of draft final accounts must be in accordance with the existing laws and administrative regulations and ensure real, accurate and integral revenues and expenses as well as timely reporting.

To ensure smooth implementation of budget and final account compilation at different levels, the Ministry of Finance will communicate compilation and reporting approaches for central and local governments’ final accounting of revenue and expenditure every year as a guidance document of the national financial budget and final accounting issues.

All financial statements shall be made in accordance with following principles: 1) to support comprehensive and objective reflection of annual budget performance as well as strengthen budget management; 2) the items and contents of the main statement shall, to the extent possible, be kept relatively stable for the sake of comparative analysis between annual data cycles; 3) guarantee unified compilation of financial statements; 4) satisfy working requirements and ensure ease of operation.

The Ministry of Finance utilizes unified reporting statements. Financial statements at different levels are collected, compiled and checked, and then reviewed by the higher level.

The Ministry of Finance is responsible for the verification of annual budgets and corresponding adjustments, liquidation of accounts receivable and payable, the timely verification and settlement of appropriations, borrowings and various current accounts between different levels, between general government sectors as well as between competent departments and the budget units they belong to. To ensure the accuracy and validity of final accounting data, general government units cooperate with the National Treasury, government revenue collecting offices and budget execution units to check the consistency of final revenue and expenditure data.

In accordance with the existing laws and administrative regulations outlined in the Budget Law and the Statistics Law of the People's Republic of China, the key financial statements and the draft final accounts are prepared in a manner that promotes the impartiality of the underlying data.

Actual outturn (revenues and expenditures) of the central and local governments are mainly collected and computed on the basis of the National Treasury reports and the public finance budgetary accounting statement as stipulated by the Ministry of Finance.

Revenues (budget transfers and contributions) and expenditures (social benefits paid) of the socialsecurity funds are mainly compiled according to the socialsecurities funds accounting classifications for the social insurance organizations which are determined by the Ministry of Finance.

The Ministry of Finance is solely responsible for determining the format of the data that are made available on the official website (www.mof.gov.cn), the China Statistical Yearbook, and the China Finance Yearbook.

The Ministry of Finance will clarify erroneous interpretation and misuse of the statistics by the media or the public. Explanation of data production process, the significance of indicators and the statistical scope of central and local government revenue and expenditures are made through various media.

In accordance with the Budget Law, fiscal components and aggregates of the central government and local governments as well as consolidated national data are disseminated on the website of the Ministry of Finance: www.mof.gov.cn.

The Ministry of Finance is in charge of preparing the annual budget and the final accounts of the central government and compiling the annual budget and final accounts at the national level (including the central government and local governments). Local government statistics produced by individual units may be disseminated under the authorization of the NPC at the same level.

The monthly Finance Brief Report is prepared some 15 days following the reference period, for circulation to ministries and provincial governments. The report includes national budget data on various tax and nontax revenue, categories of expenditure, and total revenue by province.

Explanatory notes about methodology changes appear as footnotes to the tables of the China Finance Yearbook. Any major changes in statistical methodology, source data and statistical techniques will be communicated in footnotes to the published data set.

Staff of the Ministry of Finance shall stick to the principle of seeking truth from facts, observing professional ethics and being responsible for the consistency of collected, checked and input financial data of central and local government units.

Fiscal data of the central government covers general public budget, the government-managed fund budget (excluding the revenues and expenditures from the sale of state-owned land-use rights) and the state capital operation budget.

The general public budget and government-managed fund budget of the central government includes 166 level-one budget units and 13,000 subordinate expenditure units.

Central government revenue and expenditure are classified in accordance with the classification system of IMF¡¯s Government Finance Statistics Manual (1986).

Central government revenue is divided into general public budget revenue, government-managed fund revenue and state capital operation revenue.

General public budget revenue includes tax revenue and nontax revenue.

Government-managed fund revenue covers income that the state gains through funds and fees collected from the society, through land leasing and from lottery sales.

State capital operation revenue refers to returns on investment in state-owned enterprises, including profit on income, dividends on state-owned shares, and income from the transfer, lease, or sale of state-owned property.

Public financial expenditures are classified into the following main functional categories: general public service, national defense, public security, education, social insurance, and medical treatment.

In view of fund usage, government-managed fund expenditures are classified into the following categories: transportation infrastructure construction, water conservancy construction, city maintenance construction, social development (such as education, culture and sports), immigrant and social insurance, ecological environment construction and others.

State capitaloperation fund expenditures are divided into capital expenditure, charges against revenue and other expenditures according to their nature. They can also be divided into expenses for education, scientific technology, culture, sports and media, social insurance, and employment according to their function.

Source data on general public budget revenue, government-managed fund revenue and state capital operation revenue mainly come from financial statements of the National Treasury. Central government revenues are collected and categorized in the National Treasury statements provided by the People¡¯s Bank of China. The classification structure used was designed by the Ministry of Finance.

Data of general public budget expenditure, government-managed fund expenditure and state capital operation operating expenditure mainly come from the general public budget accounting information. Fiscal expenditures of the central government are determined according to expenditure items in the general public budget accounting statement.

Data on the financing of the surplus/deficit come from e-records of government bond issuing and foreign borrowing information maintained by the Ministry of Finance.

Broadly aligned with the IMF's Government Finance Statistics Manual 1986.

The monthly central government financing figure only refers to the general public budget, while the balance figure refers to three separate budgets, including the general public budget, the government-managed fund budget, and the state capital operation budget. This is because the Budget Law stipulates that the government-managed fund budget, the state capital operation budget in principle, maintain a zero deficit/surplus position.

The monthly financing figure may not equal the balance figure of the general public budget. This ismainly because of the bond issuing schedule, the treasury management and the implementation situation of revenue and expenditure in any given month.

Dissemination on request of unpublished but non-confidential statistics is implemented according to China Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information and Interim Measures to Disclose Government Information of the Ministry of Finance.

Explanatory notes on concepts, scope, classification, basis of recording, data source and statistical techniques used in compiling central government revenue and expenditure are published in the China Finance Yearbook, China Statistical Yearbook and China Monthly Economic Indicatorsas well as IMF website: http://dsbb.imf.org.

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